Other dismayed shareholders are expected to blast Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and his fellow board members at the company's annual meeting Friday.

Many shareholders are infuriated because Yang, acting on behalf of the board, rejected Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo for $33 per share in early May. Microsoft withdrew the bid after Yang sought $37 per share, a price Yahoo's stock hasn't reached in 2 1/2 years.

Yahoo's market value is now stuck about $20 billion below Microsoft's last offer for the entire company.

Microsoft also has twice offered to buy Yahoo's online search operations in more complex deals that also were rejected.

Pickens invested in Yahoo largely as a bet on activist investor Carl Icahn, who had launched a campaign to oust Yahoo's board in hopes of reviving Microsoft's takeover bid.

After Icahn was able to persuade Microsoft only to make an offer for a part of Yahoo, he negotiated a truce that will give him and two of his allies seats on Yahoo's expanded board.

Although eight of the nine Yahoo directors who spurned Microsoft will remain on the board, Icahn is still holding out hope that he can help negotiate a sale.